


Shing-a-ling (What a creepy thing)

by Pheonix_Inside



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, High School, Highschool AU, Human, Human AU, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Sex, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Little Shop of Horrors References, M/M, Minor Arackniss/Sir Pentious, Minor Charlie Magne/Vaggie, Minor Original Character(s), No Smut, Sex Work, Slow Burn, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27632671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pheonix_Inside/pseuds/Pheonix_Inside
Summary: Anthony Ragno, otherwise known as Angel - or Angel Dust, has a heaping amount of issues.Dead mom, daddy issues, abandoned by his older brother, distant from his twin sister, gifted kid syndrome, one of the worst reputations in his school, and a very shitty andveryillegal job, he’s fucked up, to put it lightly.Who would know that a drama club and a school play would be the thing to help him get back on track?
Relationships: Alastor & Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor & Husk & Niffty (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust & Arackniss (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust & Cherri Bomb (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust & Molly (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust/Husk (Hazbin Hotel), Angel Dust/Valentino (Hazbin Hotel), Arackniss & Henroin (Hazbin Hotel), Molly & Arackniss (Hazbin Hotel)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 79





	1. We're so young

**Author's Note:**

> Please heed the tags, this story is heavy.
> 
> Title is from the song [Prologue/Little Shop of Horrors](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ADCCr_N4s).
> 
> Beta-read by [sometimeswritingsometimesdying ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sometimeswritingsometimesdying).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _**“We’re so young  
>  But we’re on the road to ruin  
> We play dumb  
> But we know exactly what we’re doing”  
>  _ **\- New Romantics by Taylor Swift**_** _

Angel was seated next to Cherri, his best - and if you asked him, only - friend. His arms were crossed, as he hunched his shoulders just a bit. He’d always been a bit on the dramatic side. But it was justified!

They were seated in the school’s office, waiting to meet with their grade’s assistant principal. All because they’d tried to have a little fun and a teacher didn’t like that.

Okay, they’d tried to blow up a toilet in the bathroom and Cherri’s chemistry teacher caught them, but it wasn’t a big deal! Not like they actually succeeded.

“Fuck Mr. Pentious.” Cherri grumbled, her arms also crossed as she seethed more intensely than Angel.

“Language, Cherri!” The secretary seated not far from them said, receiving an eye roll from both teens and a middle finger that he couldn’t see from Angel.

“You can go back to class, now, Vaggie.” The secretary then said, to another student in the office that Angel couldn’t see from around the desk.

_Wait, Vaggie?_

“No, thank you. I’m gonna wait until Charlie’s out.” A familiar voice replied.

_Holy fuck, it’s Vaggie. What’s she doing here?_

“What the fuck are you doin’ here, Vags?” Angel asked.

“Language!” The secretary said, louder than he had been the first time. Angel snickered.

He heard Vaggie sigh, before seeing her rise from behind the desk, standing up and walking to the other side of the office to properly talk to Angel.

Vaggie was the vice president of the unofficial drama club. The school had defunded the drama department last year and Charlie, Vaggie’s girlfriend and the living embodiment of sunshine, had wanted to convince the school board to fund it again.

And how was she doing it? By putting on a school play herself, with other students. If she could put on a good play, the board would consider it, because it meant the students actually cared or something.

Of course, in a school where half of the kids had jobs waiting for them in one illegal way or another, and the other half were rich kids who were either into sports or forced into the pre-med program by their parents, nobody gave two shits about the drama club.

Angel was the only member besides the two founders, and he’d only signed up to have an excuse to be out of the house without hurting his sister’s feelings.

Vaggie stood in front of Angel, looking at him disapprovingly. He looked right back at her carelessly. She sighed.

“So? Why are you here?” Angel asked, “Someone say somethin’ mean about Princess and you went nuts?”

Vaggie glared at Angel, “No. I’m waiting for Charlie.”

“What’d she do?” Angel asked, his eyes widening and a disbelieving smile forming, “What, she vomit rainbows on someone?”

“No,” Vaggie replied, “She got into a fight.”

“Woah, what happened?” Cherri asked, butting into the conversation, “I thought she was all goodie goodie.”

Vaggie scoffed, “She was trying to promote the club on the student news, and one of the anchors made fun of it. Charlie wasn’t technically the one who started the fight, though.”

Angel doubled over laughing.

“It’s not funny!” Vaggie said over Angel’s cackling, “This could be really bad for the club, and Charlie's in trouble for something that could’ve been avoided!”

“Oh, that’s priceless.” Angel said, wiping actual tears from his eyes, “That’s fucking hilarious.”

“Language.” The secretary muttered, but they all ignored him.

“Well, it also basically ruins our chances of the club actually gaining any popularity.” Vaggie said, crossing her arms, “Y’know, the club _you_ joined.”

Angel shrugged, “Does it look like I care?”

“Why are you even here?” Vaggie replied with a groan, “What did you even do?”

“We tried to blow up a toilet in the teacher’s lounge.” Cherri said.

“And why would you do that?” Vaggie replied, running a hand down her face.

“Mr. Pentious failed me on the last test and I know he goes to that lounge, so I decided that it was fair revenge.” Cherri said, looking proud of herself.

“Sadly, the dickbag had other plans, and came for lunch early today.” Angel said, ignoring the secretary’s shout of “Language!” for the fourth time.

“You are unbelievable.” Vaggie muttered, shaking her head, before walking away, back to her seat, “Well, I hope you get suspended.”

“I could say the same about your girlfriend, bitch!” Angel replied, receiving a middle finger from the latina.

“Vaggie! Anthony!” The secretary exclaimed, “Watch your language, and don’t use such rude gestures!”

Angel just shrugged with a chuckle, but he heard Vaggie mutter a “Sorry Mr. Collin.”

Of course, Angel’s amusement was cut short by the door he and Cherri were seated next to opening, and another student walking out.

“Cherri, Anthony, you can come in now.” Their vice principal said.

Internally groaning as he and Cherri got up, Angel prepared himself for what would definitely be an unpleasant next twenty to thirty minutes.

-

Angel had never liked the taste of tap water very much. But by far, the worst taste was the tap water from the school’s bathroom sinks.

Of course, he didn’t really have any right to be picky. And if he didn’t rinse out his mouth, it would taste worse overall.

He tried not to gag as he swished the water around his mouth, feeling it get all the gross stuff as it did. He spit the water into the sink, before getting more with his hands and starting again.

He’d never quite gotten used to the feeling of swallowing cum. He’d gotten used to having to do it, but it always left him feeling sick afterwards.

Angel had something of a “side business.” He’d sleep with other students for money.

It had started out a bit classier, usually at parties where they’d sneak away to a bedroom. But it had been a little over a year since his business had started, and by now he was giving boys blowjobs in the bathroom.

He tried not to gag, though it was more from his thoughts than any taste left in his mouth.

It was honestly funny how many guys in the school were secretly closeted, based on how many Angel had slept with. Sure, he’d had a few girls here and there, but he could count the number of girls who’d bought his services on one hand, while the number of guys he’d stopped counting.

He spit the water out again, before walking away from the sink, grabbing some paper towels and wiping off his mouth. Throwing out the paper towel, he left the bathroom, making his way to another one down the hall.

It was the end of the school day now. Some students would meet in classrooms for clubs, and others would do sports. Every now and then, a guy or two would have Angel meet him in a bathroom around this time, and give him the money to do what they wanted. Often it was just something quick, as the boy had something to go to, like football practice or chess club or whatever the fuck they were doing.

Angel didn’t care what they were doing. He just cared that they were paying him to do _his_ thing.

Reaching into his back pocket, Angel pulled out a small wad of dollar bills. He counted through them, finding all thirty dollars that the boy had promised. With a sigh, Angel leaned against the wall, pausing in his walking for a bit to open a pocket in his backpack and put the money in, where there was already more cash. Not all of it was from today. In fact, Angel barely ever emptied out that pocket except to get whatever money he needed.

He heard footsteps nearby, and when he turned his head, expecting to see a teacher, he saw Vaggie instead. He raised an eyebrow, but kicked himself off from leaning on the wall, beginning to walk again, now alongside Vaggie. She was going in the general direction of the bathroom anyway, so it worked.

“Angel, please tell me you didn’t get that money how I think you did.” Vaggie said.

Angel shrugged, “You want the truth or what’ll make ya’ happy?”

Vaggie sighed next to him, and in his peripheral saw her shaking her head.

“I don’t get why you do this.” She said, trying to keep her voice low enough that teachers wouldn’t hear her, “It’s illegal, it’s demeaning, it can be unhealthy if you’re not careful. You’re a kid anyway, why would you want to do that?”

Angel bit back a ‘ _You think I don’t know that?_ ’

Instead he said, “You think I care? It’s fun. And I _am_ careful, ask half the guys here.”

“Ugh. Gross.” Vaggie groaned.

“Is the club meeting today?” Angel asked.

“Yeah.” Vaggie replied.

“Can you and Sunshine gimme a ride?” Angel asked.

Vaggie sighed, “Don’t we always?”

Angel just hummed in reply with a shrug.

“Meet us by 4:30.” Vaggie said, “A teacher showed interest in the club so we’re gonna start a little bit later to talk to him.”

4:30. It was currently 4:20 - ha, _blaze it_ \- which gave Angel ten minutes.

He stopped by the bathroom, seeing the boy waiting for him just inside of it, before giving Vaggie a quick wave.

He’d have to make this quick.

-

The car doors slammed closed just as Angel ran into the parking lot, booking it to the car before it drove off.

“Wait for me!” He called out.

He quickly opened the door to the backseat when he got to the car, climbing in and taking a seat. He reclined in the back, and ignored Charlie’s call of “Seatbelt!” before she started driving.

“I didn’t even get to wash my mouth.” Angel whined.

“Oh, boo hoo.” Vaggie replied, “I gave you a time, you knew what you were doing.”

“Actually I didn’t, but whatever gets your dick hard.” Angel said, “Not like I can reschedule.”

“Well, I mean, couldn’t you?” Charlie asked.

Angel shrugged, “Some guys are fine with it, but not all of ‘em. It’s just easier if I don’t, no need to deal with a freak out.”

“That’s not very fair to you.” Charlie mumbled.

“Eh. It’s business.” Angel replied, pulling out his phone.

Charlie didn’t reply, and Angel could practically see her thinking.

“Charlie, let it go. He doesn’t care.” Vaggie whispered.

He frowned, but didn’t reply, ignoring the heavy feeling in his chest at her tone.

Opening up Instagram, he mindlessly scrolled, liking a few posts of Cherri’s that he hadn’t seen before among others.

A notification popped up, and it felt like all the air got sucked out of his lungs, reading who the text was from.

**You able to come to work tonight, Angel Cakes?**

Valentino.

Angel repressed the urge to yell out in frustration.

 _Why tonight? Can’t I have a break?_ _Ugh_.

But there was no saying no to the boss.

**Yep💕**

He sighed as he sent the text, before putting the phone down. He didn’t feel like going on social media anymore.

Ah, Valentino. By far the biggest mistake Angel had ever made. Most likely, the biggest mistake he’d ever _make_.

In freshman year, one traumatic event and mental breakdown was all it had taken for him to decide to do something that ended up ruining his life.

He’d gotten his hands on a shitty fake ID, and using that shitty fake ID and an even shittier story to go with it, he’d auditioned to be a stripper at one of Val’s clubs. Somehow he’d gotten the job.

There was no way that Val didn’t know he was a kid, it was obvious. And that just disturbed Angel more.

Angel was most afraid of his birthday. In an act of stupidity, he had told Val his actual birthday, back when he still trusted the motherfucker. And he had a hunch that somehow when he turned eighteen, which would be soon, Val would find out. He didn’t wanna know what would happen then.

His phone pinged again, and though he contemplated ignoring it, he knew it was safer to check it.

**Good boy. Be there the usual time.**

Angel replied before turning off his phone with a sigh.

He fidgeted, tapping his fingers as he tried not to hum. Anything to get this new gross feeling out of his system. Nothing worked, and he felt almost sick from the pit in his stomach. Ugh, it wasn’t even a big deal, just the usual work call, why was he so worked up?

The car stopped not long after, and Angel put his phone in his bag.

They all got comfortable. Angel quickly went to the bathroom, rinsing out his mouth and trying not to look at the toilet. The last time he’d done that while feeling like _this_ , he’d thrown up.

Oh, fuck it. It would certainly get rid of the cause of this bad taste in his mouth.

He came out of the bathroom feeling both better and worse. His mouth tasted gross now, but a different kind of gross. He had washed it out another time, but it was a persistent taste. He took a popsicle from Charlie’s freezer without asking before sitting on the couch, near the two other teens.

Making sure to eat the popsicle slowly and lewdly, Angel watched as the two talked about something he didn’t care to try to eavesdrop on.

_Hope the vomiting doesn’t become a habit. That’s the third time I’ve done that this month._

He sighed, looking off to the side.

“So, Angel!” Charlie suddenly called out, jarring Angel out of his thinking.

“Yes?” He replied.

“A teacher decided to help us with the club!” Charlie said, nearly bouncing in her seat.

“ _Yippee_ ,” Angel said monotonously, “Who is it?”

“Mr. Cerf.” Charlie replied.

“Who?” He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

He could almost sense the surprise from the other two girls, and rolled his eyes.

“Mr. Cerf. He teaches history.” Vaggie said, “He’s well known throughout the school. How do you not know him?”

“Never had him.” Angel said with a shrug, “I’m not exactly one to care about teachers I don’t have.”

“Well, he said he wanted to help us. He seems to have a soft spot for theater!” Charlie exclaimed, “Which is very lucky for us. He should be here soon. He said that he’s bringing some friends of his who can help with tech.”

“He’s coming here?” Angel asked.

Vaggie sighed, looking defeated, “Yep.”

“I mean, it’s not that bad, is it?” Charlie asked with a frown, “Mrs. von Eldritch used to come to my house.”

“Yeah, because she was friends with your parents, and you were friends with her kids.” Vaggie replied.

Charlie scowled at the mention of the von Eldritch siblings, but didn’t reply.

“I mean, it’s too late now, but next time let’s think a bit more before inviting a stranger over.” Vaggie added.

“Well, he’s not a stranger!” Charlie replied, perking up again, “I know that him and my dad are friendly. And I think he’s been over before. Mom’s talked about him.”

Angel laughed at that. If someone was friendly with Mr. Magne, CEO of H.E.L.L. Corporations and a crime boss in Pentagram City, chances were that they were also involved with the secret not-so-secret crime world of the city.

Of course, Angel wasn’t sure Charlie knew about it. And it wasn’t like he was supposed to know about it himself, so he didn’t ever say anything.

(How could he not know about it, though? His dad had a “business,” and was involved with the local - and not local - mob. And Angel worked for motherfucking _Valentino_ , who was basically an overlord of the city - though it was a secret. It was impossible for him to _not_ know anything.)

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door. It was a rhythm that Angel would’ve recognized, had it been knocked quicker.

Charlie shot up, running out of the living room to go open the door. “He’s here!”

The sound of the door opening could be heard, and quickly a loud voice spoke. Likely this “Mr. Cerf” guy.

“Why hello!”

Angel stood up, realizing he’d almost finished his popsicle. He figured it would save him time to just finish it while heading to the trash can to throw it out. Also, he’d been getting antsy.

Passing by the hallway that led to the door, he almost bumped into a man. He stopped just in time, looking at him, eyebrows raised.

“Oh. I assume this is that one member you were telling me about?” The man said, turning to Charlie, who was just a little bit behind him.

The first thing Angel noticed about the guy was that he spoke in a weird voice, like he was a character in an old movie or a 1930’s radio host. The next thing he noticed was that the man had a wide smile on his face, which was unsettling to say the least. Not that it bothered Angel.

“The one and only.” He replied with a smirk, “Call me Angel.”

Mr. Cerf just looked at him, before walking right past him and continuing to go on whatever spiel he’d been on before. _Wow. Rude._

Angel threw out the popsicle stick, and made his way back to the living room. The couch was taken by Mr. Cerf, and two other people. There was a girl who looked about Angel’s age, and a guy who seemed maybe a few years older at most.

Angel eyed the guy as he sat down in the only empty chair, propping his legs up on one armrest and his back against the other.

The guy looked nice. A bit scruffy, but Angel wasn’t picky. He had a little bit of facial hair, and he wore a simple t-shirt and jeans. Nothing fancy. His dark hair was in need of a trim.

In Angel’s opinion, he was very hot. In that _this guy would probably fuck you up_ kind of way, but hot nonetheless. Besides, it seemed Angel had a thing for guys that would fuck him up, with his track record, so why did it matter?

Angel leaned more on the side of the chair he was seated in, luckily in the seat closest to the end of the couch that the guy was seated on.

“ _Hey_.” He said, trying for his best flirty voice.

“Go fuck yourself.” The guy said, taking a swig from a beer bottle Angel only then noticed he had.

Angel blinked. _Oh. Okay. This guy could be fun._

“Only if you watch me.” Angel said, regaining his previous confidence, before being cut off by Charlie.

“So! Welcome to the club, Mr. Cerf!” She said nervously.

She made eye contact with Angel, giving him the best “shut your fucking mouth” look that she could while still maintaining the smile on her face. Angel just smiled back, but he went back to sitting in his chair. He could flirt with this new guy later.

“Yes! I am just delighted to be here! And you may call me Alastor.” Mr. Cerf replied with a small bow, “I would like to introduce you to my lovely friends, Niffty and Husker.”

With each name, he gestured to one of the people seated next to him. Niffty, the girl, waved excitedly, while Husker, the guy, muttered out “It’s Husk.”

Husk, huh? Weird, but Angel wasn’t one to judge. His nickname was based on a drug, for fuck’s sake. Not that anybody at school knew that.

“Nice to meet you!” Charlie said, grinning, “I’m sure you’ll love being a part of this club!”

“I lost the ability to love years ago.” Husk muttered, receiving an elbow in the side from Alastor.

“You and me both, babe.” Angel replied under his breath. It was a joke, but one he couldn’t help but make

He almost laughed at Charlie’s concerned look towards Husk, but managed to stifle it before he’d attract too much attention.

“Well, um, first things first, let’s figure out where to meet.” Charlie said, trying to get the conversation on track again.

“Hm, well, the theater is always an option, but it does seem a bit silly to meet there when we don’t even have a plan yet, or a show picked.” Alastor said.

Charlie looked down, “Ah, yeah. Good point.”

“We could just meet here while we figure that shit out.” Angel blurted out.

Everyone looked at him, and he raised an eyebrow.

“What, was I not allowed to speak?” He asked, “Y’know I can do more than just look pretty.”

He saw Vaggie roll her eyes, and he smirked.

“That’s not a half bad idea, Angel.” Charlie said, “We could do that. Besides, here we have the TV and speakers, so we can watch or listen to musicals to make a better decision.”

“So it’s settled then!” Alastor exclaimed, clapping his hands together, “We will meet here until we open auditions for other students to join!”

Charlie nodded, “Now let’s just hope that other students will audition.”

“Well, how about we make a list of musicals and decide which ones to knock out from there?” Vaggie suggested.

“Yeah! Let’s do that!” Charlie exclaimed, getting up, “I’ll go get a notebook to write this stuff down.”

“How long ‘s this gonna take?” Angel asked. He had to work tonight.

“Why, you got somewhere to be?” Vaggie replied.

“Actually, yeah. I do.” Angel replied, “Though it’s none of _your_ business, toots.”

“We’ll end at the usual time!” Charlie called out from down the hall, accompanied by the sounds of opening and slamming drawers.

Okay, good. The last time Angel had been late, Val had freaked out. Angel didn’t want a repeat.


	2. Unless you fucked every authority

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _**"Buy and sell (buy and sell me, baby)  
>  Like I'm a product to society  
> Art don't sell  
> Unless you fucked every authority"  
>  ** _\- Show and Tell by Melanie Martinez_**** _

“Okay! Let’s get to picking out a musical!”

It had been a few days now, since the last meeting, considering it had been the weekend. They weren’t in the living room like last time, instead all sitting in various places - the couch, the floor, one of the other chairs - in one of the two TV rooms in Charlie’s house.

Angel swore this place was a mansion but Charlie argued that it wasn’t. He guessed she’d know more, being a rich girl and all that.

“So far on this list we have Annie, suggested by Alastor,” Charlie said, reading off of her notebook, “Into The Woods and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by me, Dear Evan Hansen and Falsettos by Vaggie, and Heathers by Niffty?”

“Yep.” Vaggie confirmed.

“I really, really, _really_ like Heathers. JD is such a cool character.” Niffty said, bouncing in her seat on the couch.

“What the fuck is that Spelling Bee one?” Angel asked.

Charlie shrugged. “Spelling Bee is actually a really fun musical! It’s emotional, and funny, and it has a smaller cast, so we’d be more likely to pull it off!”

“Sounds dumb.” Angel replied.

Vaggie scoffed, “You haven’t even seen it, how would you know?”

“Well, it’s about a spelling bee, and those are dumb.” Angel replied, crossing his arms and leaning back against the armrest of the sofa.

Before Vaggie could reply, Charlie cleared her throat, drawing attention back to her.

“Annie is a show that has a bigger cast, most of which are kids, which we can’t really do.” She said, “So, I’m sorry Al, but we’re gonna have to take it off the list.”

“That’s quite alright darling, I understand.” Alastor said, but Angel saw a twitch in his permanent smile. He leaned further away from the man.

“And are we sure that Heathers is really _appropriate_?” Charlie asked, “I mean, I only skimmed over it, but it seems awfully violent, and a little... sexual for a highschool play.”

“There’s a highschool version of it!” Niffty said, “It’s not as good as the original but it exists.”

Charlie shrugged, “Okay. It’ll stay on the list. But it probably won’t be what we do.”

“So what should we watch first?” Vaggie asked, “If that’s how we’re deciding.”

“Well, there’s a lot of bootlegs on YouTube. Let’s find a good one and start there.” Charlie replied.

“Okay. Let’s start with whatever we can find first.”

Angel stood up, “I think we should do that tomorrow. I gotta go.”

“Why?” Vaggie asked, hand on her hip.

“I’ve got somethin’ to get to.” Angel replied.

“Again?” Vaggie scoffed, “When do you not have ‘something to get to?’”

“Why’s it matter to you?” Angel asked, “This club usually ends at 6 anyway, doesn’t it?”

“I mean, yeah, but we can go a little overtime.”

“See, I can’t afford to do that, babe.”

He turned, grabbing his bag and making his way to the door.

“Sorry to ruin shit, but I really can’t be late.” He said, “We can pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

He didn’t wait for a reply before closing the door.

Standing on Charlie’s front porch, with his backpack slung over his shoulder, he dropped the confident, careless facade. Running a hand down his face, he sighed.

“Welp. Can’t keep the boss waiting.” He muttered, walking to his car.

He got in and started the drive downtown, where the club was.

He hoped Valentino was in a good mood tonight.

-

For a long time Angel had liked the smell of makeup. It made him nostalgic, reminding him of his mother and the days he used to play dress up with Molly as a kid.

Now he’d grown used to the smell of makeup being accompanied by sweat, and occasionally sex. Backstage at Club 666 smelled like all those combined, with all the dancers hanging around - whether they were getting ready or taking a break.

Angel didn’t pay it any mind. Nothing was different today.

The music pulsed in the background. Angel could feel the vibrations of the deep bass more than he could hear the actual music. He changed out of his hoodie and jeans and into a tight pair of shorts. They were black and sparkly, and barely hid his ass.

Then came the boots. He took knee pads out of his bag first - he’d learned the hard way that if you were gonna do floor work, your knees needed cushioning - and put them on, before putting on his signature thigh high boots.

Valentino had given them to him as a gift when he’d first started working for him. Angel hadn’t had any shoes to wear while dancing and couldn’t afford any, so Valentino had _so generously_ given him a pair.

The boots reminded Angel of Valentino, and the club. Uncomfortable, but so familiar that he didn’t want to throw them out. He _couldn’t_ throw them out, because something relied on them, whether it was his work - in the boots’ case - or his safety.

Angel heard the sound of the back door opening, which meant another dancer had just arrived. He and the others already in the room all voiced quick hellos.

As he got ready to go on stage, his eyes felt heavy. He cursed his inability to fall asleep the night before. He’d only gotten a few hours of sleep, and though he’d been generally okay for most of the day, now that it was night it was catching up with him.

He’d just have to power through it. He’d handled worse.

Right now, it was time to go on stage.

He took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders as he mentally braced himself.

_Showtime_.

-

“So we’re eliminating Be More Chill and Frozen right off the bat. I don’t think we could do Be More Chill and I doubt any of us want to do Frozen.” Vaggie said, marking off the aforementioned musicals on the list.

It had been a few days since the last meeting, and there were new musicals listed, as well as older ones crossed out.

“I’d say it’s probably better if we don’t do Beetlejuice.” Charlie said, “I saw that show and I don’t think it’d work for a highschool play. Also it’s very tech heavy and has a pretty big ensemble needed.”

Another show checked off.

“We’ve knocked out Into The Woods and Heathers as well, so that leaves us with…” Vaggie stretched out the word ‘with’ as she checked the list, “Spelling Bee, Dear Evan Hansen, Falsettos, and Wicked.”

“We can’t do Wicked.” Angel interjected.

Everyone looked at him.

“Doesn’t it have a big background cast or whatever you’d call it?” He said after a moment.

“Ensemble?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Yeah, it does.” Charlie said, raising her eyebrows, “Okay, yeah, good move. Let’s take it off the list. I forgot about that.”

“How’d you know that, Angel?” Vaggie asked.

“My mom was a theater nut when I was a kid. I don’t remember a lot but she really liked Wicked.” Angel replied, trying to not be awkward bringing up his mom.

“Cool.” Charlie said, before turning back to the list.

“So that still leaves us with Spelling Bee, Dear Evan Hansen, and Falsettos.” Vaggie said.

“Well, that makes three. Surely we can find recordings of them?” Alastor said, “Much easier than what we started off with.”

“Yeah, there’s this one Falsettos bootleg on YouTube I found the other day, and I know there’s recordings of school plays of Spelling Bee.” Charlie said with a nod, “The only one I couldn’t really find was Dear Evan Hansen, but I didn’t really look that much, and it’s popular, so that can’t be hard to find.”

“Well then let’s watch them!” Niffty exclaimed, excited.

“We can watch Spelling Bee today.” Vaggie said, checking the time on her phone, “It’s not super long and should be over by the time we usually end the meeting.”

_Good. I gotta get to work._

Charlie turned on the TV in the room, and after going through it for a bit, she selected one of the many recordings of the musical on the YouTube app.

-

Angel took a deep breath, climbing off of his latest client and sitting on the edge of the bed, grabbing his shorts that were discarded on the floor and putting them back on.

The man got up as well after a few moments, putting on his pants again as Angel stared at the wall, wringing his hands.

Angel took another breath, and stood up as well, forcing himself to stay in the moment. He turned to the man, who was already on the other side of the room.

“Thanks.” The man said gruffly, before walking out, closing the door behind him.

He’d paid Angel before anything had happened. Angel had learned the hard way to get guys to pay up front rather than after the deed had been done.

A familiar feeling of nausea took over, and Angel put a hand over his mouth, holding his breath for a moment and wishing it would go away.

Last client of the night, he could go home now.

He stretched as he walked out of the room, back into the backstage area where other dancers resided.

“You done for the night, Ange?” One of the other dancers, a girl known as Summer asked.

“Yep.” Angel replied, grabbing his bag. He slipped on his usual hoodie, and put on a pair of sweatpants over his shorts. He didn’t bother changing out of his boots. He’d driven that day, and wanted to get out as soon as possible.

“See ya’.” He said, making a peace sign as he walked out of the back door, into the parking lot.

He rushed into his car, locking it as soon as he was in. One time he hadn’t and a creep had gotten in. He’d managed to get the guy out with little problem, but he did not need a repeat of that situation.

As he drove, he couldn’t help but slump in his seat. He wanted nothing more than to shower and then sleep for five hundred years. Maybe longer.

Of course, that wasn’t possible when he was going to bed at the ridiculous hours he was, and waking up for school at 7 am.

_Ugh_.

When he got home, he turned off his headlights before he pulled into the driveway, and locked the door from inside the car before he closed it, to make the least noise.

Then came sneaking in.

He climbed over the fence that led to the back yard and came in through the side door that led to the downstairs bathroom. The lock on that door never worked, and it was perfect for sneaking in.

He quickly took his boots off, haphazardly putting them in his bag, and he left the bathroom and quietly went upstairs in just his thin socks.

It was all about making as little noise as possible.

Once he finally put his things down in his room and got undressed, he grabbed his towel, wrapped it around himself, and went across the hall to the bathroom.

He, Molly, and Arackniss’ bedrooms were all upstairs. Henroin’s was the master, which was downstairs, lucky for Angel.

As he stepped into the shower, relief washed over Angel alongside the warm water. It felt so nice to wash off. He felt dirty, it happened sometimes and was never pleasant.

It had been a tough day. Both at school and at work. His math teacher had given him shit for not doing his homework again, and Angel would’ve thought she’d get the memo that he’d never do it by now. It was already the third quarter, soon the year would be over.

Then he’d had a tough work day. He never liked the days where he’d meet with clients. At least when he was dancing he didn’t have to feel anything besides the pole he held onto and the floor beneath him. On work days like this he’d feel all sorts of things. And it had been a long time since he’d wanted to.

But the boss had him working, and you don’t say no to the boss unless you want trouble. Angel dealt with enough trouble already, being the club’s pretty little secret.

He remembered seeing one of his regular clients at the school once. He’d been afraid, but the guy hadn’t noticed him. It made sense, they were pretty far away from each other, and Angel was pretty sure he’d been where the guy couldn’t see him anyway.

It turned out that he had a daughter who went to Angel’s school. How funny.

Angel had known the guy was married. Between the ring on his finger and the strange mix of guilt and satisfaction he constantly seemed to have, Angel could figure it out easily.

But it made Angel feel gross to know he was sleeping with one of his classmates’ dad.

He knew he didn’t exactly have a say in it, but he still felt like it was his fault. He had been the one to initially choose to start working for Valentino.

_That’s enough. Stop thinking about work. You’re at home._

He scrubbed himself more than probably necessary. Just to really get that dirty feeling off. He hated it.

Not long after, he was done, drying himself off and wrapping the towel around himself and heading back to his room.

He laid down on his bed, not bothering to get dressed. He just wanted to sleep.

He was out within ten minutes, a rare - but not unwelcome - occurrence.

-

“Tony, wake up, we’ve got school!”

Angel groaned, but he’d been expecting to hear that, accompanied by the usual knock on his door. He always woke up not long before it happened.

But one thing was for sure, Angel was _not_ a morning person. He wished he could stay in bed forever.

Of course, he couldn’t, so he groaned again, before getting up, pushing his messy blankets away.

He threw on a cute outfit, before combing his hands through his messy brown hair and huffing when it didn’t sit the way he wanted. He never got his hair to do what he wanted. He made a mental note to stop in the bathroom and really mess with it and maybe steal some of Molly’s hair spray.

Leaving the room, he went downstairs, eating a quick breakfast of whatever sugary cereal they had in the pantry - Lucky Charms this week. Then he’d gone back upstairs, brushing his teeth and then applying some light makeup. Remembering at the last second, he did his hair.

He put on his shoes, grabbed his bag, unplugged his phone from its charger, and he was ready to go.

Normally he’d walk to school. It wasn’t far away and it was nice to get some fresh air. But it was dreary today, and it looked like at any moment it could rain.

He decided he’d drive.

“I think it’s gonna rain!” He called back into the house, knowing his sister would hear him from where she sat in the kitchen, “Want a ride or are you just gonna walk?!”

“I’ll walk!” Molly replied, “Or have a friend pick me up! They know where to go!”

“‘Kay! Bye!” Angel said, before closing the door.

He grabbed his car keys from his bag and quickly got in, placing his backpack in the passenger seat and pulling out of the driveway without his seatbelt on.

Angel hadn’t worn his seatbelt once in this car. If he got into a crash and died, that was just too bad.

He’d gotten it from Valentino. It had been within the first few months of Angel working for Val, before he’d stopped playing nice and shown his true colors.

He’d bought Angel a car. He’d given it to him at the club, and gave him the keys and told him to have fun. When Angel had shown up at home with it, his dad hadn’t questioned it. Likely thought he’d stolen it or something.

Arackniss had asked. Angel hadn’t answered.

The car was nice, but not necessarily fancy. It was smaller, white, and had definitely been used before Angel had gotten it. Not that he was complaining, he was happy to even have a car. God knows his dad would never buy him one.

Ugh, his dad.

Henroin, as he was known in the business. It made Angel laugh. Funny how his dad’s name was so clearly a play on words with a drug, and Angel’s was as well.

Like father like son, he guessed.

But he hadn’t been home for almost a week now.

This wasn’t the first time, so Angel wasn’t really worried. Just curious as to when he’d get back.

There were many times where Henroin and Arackniss would be away from home for days at a time, and then come back and act like nothing happened.

They were barely home already, so it didn’t make much of a difference. They always left for whatever their work was before the twins woke up, and always came home after Molly would go to sleep, when Angel would be at work.

He’d almost gotten caught sneaking back in by Arackniss a few times. But he’d gotten lucky and managed to not be seen.

Angel wondered when that luck would run out.

He parked in the school’s parking lot, and made his way to his first period. It was a drama class, run by Mr. Blitzo - “the O is silent” - and he’d only chosen the class because it was an easy A.

To be fair, it was fun. Sometimes.

He sat down sideways at his desk, placing his backpack underneath it where his feet should’ve gone.

This was gonna be fun.

That was sarcasm. Angel could already feel himself getting bored.

-

The room was silent as the TV screen went black, the lights going out as the musical ended. Charlie held up the remote and paused it.

After a moment of silence, Alastor cleared his throat.

“Well, it doesn’t seem like it would be a good idea to do _that_ show.” He said cheerfully.

Charlie sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes, “Yeah, we probably shouldn’t. Not a highschool play.”

Angel ignored the fact that his eyes were a bit misty to laugh at Charlie, who was leaning on Vaggie as she very obviously held back sobs.

“Are you two fuckin’ _crying_?” He asked, knowing his voice definitely sounded like he was crying too. _He wasn’t_.

They’d saved Falsettos for last on their watchlist. Bad choice. It was sad, to say the least.

“So that leaves Dear Evan Hansen and Spelling Bee on our final list.” Charlie said, clearing her throat, “We can figure out what we wanna do tomorrow.”

The group disbanded after that, getting up and going to different places.

Angel went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, and there he found Husk throwing a beer bottle in the trash.

“ _Hey, Husky_.” He purred, leaning on the door frame.

“Fuck off.” Husk replied.

“Nah.” Angel said, walking into the kitchen to get the water he wanted, “Don’t really feel like doin’ that right now.”

Husk sighed, but didn’t say anything, instead heading out of the kitchen.

Angel heard him mutter, “I’m too sober for this” as he left.

Oh well, his loss. Angel was practically throwing himself at him. If he wasn’t taking the bait, he was the one missing out.

Kind of a shame, though, Husk was a pretty hot guy.

He left the kitchen, glass of water in hand, seeing Charlie and Vaggie discussing something with Alastor, and Husk and Niffty in their own little corners. He’d bothered Husk enough for now, and he really didn’t have anything he could talk about with Niffty.

Welp, thank god for the invention of the cell phone, huh?

Angel sat back down on the couch, reclining and taking up all the space now that nobody else was there. He pulled out his phone and turned it on, only for his blood to run cold.

**_(1) Missed call: Boss_ **

_Fuck_.

After almost choking on his water and then trying to be quiet about it, he put the glass down on the table beside the couch and quickly got up, rushing to find a room away from everyone else.

The kitchen worked.

He clicked on Val’s contact, calling him, and he tapped his foot on the tile, trying to keep his breathing steady as he leaned against the counter.

_What does he want? Am I in trouble? Am I late? I thought I was on break today_.

He answered on the sixth ring.

“ **Hey, Angel Baby. To what do I owe the** ** _pleasure_** **?** ” Valentino purred.

Angel tried to keep his voice from shaking, “Hey, boss. I just saw you called me and I wanted to see what’s up.”

“ ** _Yes_** **.** ” Valentino said, and Angel felt himself tense up, “ **Y’see, I was just checking in. Wanted to see if you were able to come into work tonight.** ”

“Oh.” Angel said, releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding, “You normally text me for that.”

“ **I wanted to hear your voice.** ” Valentino said.

_Bullshit. He just wanted to scare me._

“Oh.” Was all Angel replied with, again, “Well, I thought I was on break tonight?”

“ **I changed my mind. I need just a bit more money this week and you’re my** ** _precious_** **little moneymaker.** ” Valentino said.

Angel gulped. He really didn’t wanna work.

But what choice did he have? He could say no, if he wanted and angry Valentino on his hands.

“Okay, yeah.” Angel said, trying not to sound as disappointed as he felt, “I can make it.”

He’d wanted to catch up on sleep, _god dammit_.

“ ** _Good boy_** **.** ” Valentino said, and Angel felt a shiver run down his spine.

“When should I get there?” Angel asked, standing up straight again.

“ **Whenever you can, Angel Baby. But I’d prefer if you come as soon as possible.** ” Valentino replied.

Angel nodded, “Okay. I’ll be there soon.”

“ **Good.** ” Valentino said, “ **See ya’, baby.** ”

He hung up, and Angel continued to hold the phone up to his ear for a few moments, before bringing it in front of him, staring at the screen.

Tears filled his eyes, and he tried to wipe them away. Why was he getting so teary eyed over work? This wasn’t the first time Val had called him in on a break day.

He was just so _tired_ , lately. He’d really been looking forward to that sleep.

It was honestly depressing just _how much_ he’d been looking forward to that sleep.

“Angel?” He heard Charlie say from the entrance to the kitchen.

He jumped, looking over at her, to see her standing there. He cleared his throat, crossing his arms and frowning. He was having a moment here, why did somebody have to come in. He didn’t want anyone to see him when he was like this!

“What?” He snapped.

“Are… Are you okay?” She asked.

He walked past her. “Just peachy.”

Angel didn’t give her a chance to speak as he left the kitchen, grabbing his water and chugging it down.

“I gotta get going.” He said to nobody in particular, “See ya’ tomorrow.”

“Angel, wait.” Charlie said, putting a hand on his arm.

He jerked it away, glaring. “Don’t touch me.”

As he walked away he tried to will himself not to cry again. He just wanted to go home.

_God_ , he was way too emotional sometimes. He needed to just get over it.


	3. Little shop, little shoppa horrors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **_“Little shop, little shoppa horrors  
>  Little shop, little shoppa terror  
> Call a cop. Little shoppa horrors  
> No, oh, oh, no-oh!”_  
> \- Prologue/Little Shop of Horrors from Little Shop of Horrors**

“Angel, are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m _fine_ , Princess, fuck off.”

Vaggie scoffed, “What’s your deal today?”

“I don’t have a deal, it’s Cinderella over here with a deal.” Angel replied, crossing his arms petulantly.

“I just want to make sure you’re okay. Yesterday-”

“Shut the _fuck_ up.”

Charlie blinked, her eyes wide as she stared at Angel. Angel glared right back.

“Stop talking.” He said after a moment, “ _I’m fine_.”

“Just leave him alone.” Vaggie said, “If he’s gonna be like this it’s not worth it.”

_Not worth it_.

_Not like she’s wrong_.

He sighed, looking back at his phone, before deciding to just put it down.

Today was definitely a break day. He’d put up with an angry boss if he had to, but Valentino had told him to take a break today, and he was going to fucking _sleep_.

Of course, after the club met for the day.

They got to the Magne house within a few minutes, where Alastor’s car was waiting.

Today they’d be deciding what show to do. Not the worst thing. Angel honestly didn’t care that much, so he had a hunch he wouldn’t be paying too much attention today.

“I was looking into my favorite musicals and I found one that we may be able to do!” Alastor said, once they were all in the living room, “It would take quite a bit of work, but I believe it could be done”

Charlie quirked an eyebrow, “What musical?”

“Little Shop of Horrors.” Alastor said, “I will be absolutely horrified if you haven’t heard of it, dear-”

“Oh my god, I love Little Shop!” Charlie exclaimed, “That would be so much fun!”

“The fuck is that?” Husk muttered.

Angel heard Vaggie mutter, “So he _does_ speak,” as Charlie began to explain it to the poor guy, who looked even more lost

“Are you sure we wanna add it?” Vaggie asked, “We’ve already spent so long trying to decide, is that a good idea?”

“Little Shop is really good.” Charlie said, “Let’s at least watch the movie and see what everyone else thinks.”

Vaggie sighed, “Okay.”

“Make sure to watch the director’s cut. Otherwise the ending will be different.” Alastor cut in.

“I know.” Charlie said with a smile, “We have the director’s cut.”

Alastor’s smile brightened, “Good to hear!”

After Charlie found the movie among the countless others her family had, the group sat quietly as it started.

It was… cheesy. Angel had found it entertaining. He’d been a bit shocked by the ending, but he wasn’t exactly complaining with how it went. It made sense, all things considered.

But now they were sitting there about two hours later as the credits rolled.

“Hm.” Angel hummed, nodding his head, “Not bad.”

“It’s better than ‘not bad!’” Alastor exclaimed, looking like an excited kid at Disney world, “It’s phenomenal!”

“Of course _you_ like this shit.” Husk grumbled.

“Tell me, my dear Husker, is it not a good musical?” Alastor replied. Husk didn’t respond, instead rolling his eyes as he took another sip from the beer he was holding.

“I thought it was really good!” Niffty said, “I liked the dentist character, I think he was really weird but also very cool and his song was really nice but I do feel bad for poor Audrey-”

“Niff.” Husk interrupted, “You’re rambling.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“What did you think, Vaggie?” Charlie asked, turning to her girlfriend.

“It was good.” Vaggie said, “We could do it, but that would be hard. We’d need more people and a puppet for the plant. And then even though we could probably get a puppet, who knows how many people will audition?”

“Those are some good points.” Charlie said, nodding her head.

Vaggie flipped to the page the list was written on in the notebook, before handing it to Charlie.

“Okay, so time to figure out what show we’re doing.” Vaggie said, “Either Dear Evan Hansen, Spelling Bee, or Little Shop of Horrors.”

“Let’s eliminate the one we like the least.” Charlie said.

After doing a vote, Dear Evan Hansen was out. It barely lost to Spelling Bee.

“Okay. Down to two.” Charlie muttered as she crossed out the name on the list.

After the second vote Spelling Bee was out.

So they were doing Little Shop.

-

“How’s that drama club been going?”

Angel shrugged, thanking Molly as she handed him a bowl. Seeing as he had a break tonight, he could actually eat dinner with his sister for once. They were having some leftover pasta from the other night.

Angel almost laughed at how the one night he was actually eating at home they were having pasta. Leftovers or not, it was kinda stereotypical.

Eh, he had a New York accent and his dad was in the mafia, so who was he to care about “stereotypical?”

Of course, they were the only ones home, as usual. Angel didn’t care.

“We decided what show we’re gonna do.” Angel said, before shoving lukewarm spaghetti in his mouth. Why was it that microwaved food was never the right temperature?

“What show? Don’t leave me hanging.” Molly replied.

“Little Shop of Horrors. Never heard of it before today.” Angel said.

Molly gawked at him, “You’ve never heard of Little Shop? How can I call you my brother?”

“If I knew it’d be that important to ya’ I would’ve just told you to join instead a’ me.” Angel said, “The club’s a fuckin’ trainwreck, I’ll tell you that. I doubt it’s gonna go anywhere.”

“You don’t know that for sure.” Molly said, “It _could_ go very well. Who’s in it right now?”

“Officially? Me, Princess, and her girlfriend. Then there’s Al, or Mr. Cerf as you’d prob’ly know him.” Angel said, “And he dragged along two college students to help, but like hell they’re gonna be in the actual show.”

Molly blinked, “That’s not a lot of people for a play.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Angel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I wasn’t sayin’ that.” Molly replied with an eyeroll, “Are there gonna be auditions?”

“Yep. Don’t know when, though.” Angel said.

“Maybe I could help somehow.” Molly said, “Do they have a costume person? I could help with that. Or just audition. If they need people I can do both.”

“I mean, if you want to, sure.” Angel said, “But don’t put too much faith in it. It’ll probably be a shit show.”

“I think you should be more hopeful.”

“Ugh, you sound like Princess.”

Molly shrugged, “All I’m sayin’ is give it a chance. I mean, even if it doesn’t go well, it could still be fun.”

“Eh, I’m not sure about that.” Angel said.

Fun would be a very strong word to describe their little group. Interesting, could better suit it. But the club itself? _Boring_ , for sure.

-

Angel stretched as he walked out of his last period, thanking the higher powers he didn’t believe in that he didn’t have any clients that afternoon. He was supposed to introduce Molly to the club today anyway.

They ended up meeting at Molly’s locker, where said teen was talking to some friends of hers. Angel didn’t approach her until they’d left, not wanting to deal with their judgement right now.

“So, you’re gonna introduce me to your club today, right?” Molly asked as she put her books back, taking out others for homework.

Angel nodded, leaning against the locker next to her. “They’ll let you join. If they don’t I’ll be surprised. They’re really fuckin’ desperate.”

“You say that like I shouldn’t be joining.” Molly said, closing her locker as she smiled at her brother, “Or like I’m bad or somethin’.”

Angel shrugged, beginning to walk with her, “That’s not what I’m sayin’ at all. Just that you’re basically guaranteed a spot in the club.”

“That’s true.” Molly said.

The twins walked to the parking lot, where Charlie and Vaggie were waiting by the car.

Vaggie eyed Molly as they walked up, “Who’s this?”

“My sister.” Angel said, “She actually wants to be a part of this failure in the making.”

“Hey! It’s not a-” Charlie exclaimed, before cutting herself off, clearing her throat and turning to Molly, “Hi! I’m Charlie. You’re interested in the club?”

Molly blinked, “Um, yes. I’m Molly, it’s nice to meet you.”

She offered her hand for Charlie to shake, and Angel could practically see the stars lighting up in Charlie’s eyes at someone being polite. He rolled his eyes.

“Nice to meet you too!” Charlie exclaimed, nearly bouncing in place as she took Molly’s hand, shaking.

“But, yeah, I’m interested in the club.” Molly said, “Anthony was tellin’ me how you guys need more people, and I’m pretty good with clothes, so I could help with costumes. And be in the cast, if you need it.”

Angel saw both Charlie and Vaggie look over at him for a moment, likely making that connection that he was “Anthony,” before looking back at Molly. _Great_.

“Oh my gosh, that would be amazing! We could use any help you’re willing to provide!” Charlie said. Angel was shocked her face hadn’t fallen off from how intensely she was smiling.

“So, does the club meet somewhere or something?” Molly asked, “Tony usually comes home after meeting with you guys. How’s that go?”

“We meet at my house.” Charlie said, “Seeing as auditions and rehearsals haven’t started yet, we don’t really have anywhere else to go.”

“How do you get there?” Molly asked, turning to Angel, “You don’t drive to school half the time.”

“They give me a ride.” Angel said with a shrug.

“Do you walk home?” She asked, “How far is that?”

“Not far.” Angel said, shuffling in place, “That’s not the point right now. Keep talkin’ about the club, not how I get home.”

Molly gave him a look, the one she always gave when she was concerned. Usually when she caught him sneaking in or saw him with another boy at school who he’d obviously just… _worked_ with.

He rolled his eyes. Why was everyone on his back lately?

“Well, with the weather recently, Tony’s been driving us, so we can get there like that.” Molly said, turning back to Charlie, “I guess it can be figured out how I’ll get there when the time comes.”

Charlie nodded, “Sounds good.”

-

“Okay, so auditions.” Vaggie said, tapping a pen against the notebook in her hands, “How are we gonna do that?”

“Well, we will hold auditions at the school, obviously!” Alastor replied.

“Yeah, but how’s the process gonna go?” Vaggie asked, “That’s what I mean.”

“I’d say, we can hold two rounds of auditions.” Charlie said, “So that there’s multiple dates, in case people who wanna audition can’t make it to one.”

“And if we need to, we can hold callbacks as well.” Alastor said, “Though that may not be necessary, depending on how many people audition.”

“Yeah!” Charlie nodded, “Okay, so when should we hold the auditions?”

“Maybe the Monday after next week, and the Wednesday after that?” Vaggie suggested, “Would anything conflict with that, in case students would be busy?”

“The football team meets on Wednesday.” Angel said, “Chess club is Monday. That’s what I remember.”

“How do you know that?”

“How do you think?”

“I don’t even wanna know.”

Vaggie brushed it off, “Well, good thing that there’s multiple days then. That works.”

“What if not enough people audition?” Charlie asked, “That would be really hard.”

“If I may suggest this, perhaps you all could audition as well.” Alastor said, “I obviously couldn’t, and neither could Niffty or Husker, but the rest of you could audition.”

“No way, I’m the stage manager, that’s enough work.” Vaggie said.

“I didn’t say _you specifically_ had to audition, Miss Vagatha.” Alastor said, and Angel noticed his smile tighten, “But perhaps Charlotte, Angel, or Molly would like to audition.”

“Yeah, I’d love to audition.” Charlie said, “Though, if we audition, it’s probably better for Alastor to handle casting.”

“Alright, as long as he doesn’t let any biases get in the way.” Vaggie said.

“I would do no such thing.” Alastor replied.

“I don’t really wanna audition.” Angel said, “I mean, I can act pretty damn well, if I do say so myself, but singing ain’t exactly my thing.”

“Oh please, Tony, you’re a great singer.” Molly replied, lightly hitting Angel’s shoulder, “I’m auditioning, seeing as I said I would. You should too. Don’t leave your little sister alone like that.”

“You’re not even that younger than me.” Angel replied, glaring at his sister with very little actual emotion behind it.

“Hey, fifteen minutes is fifteen minutes.” Molly said with a shrug.

“Wait, you’re twins?” Charlie asked.

“That’s besides the point.” Vaggie interjected, “Angel, are you auditioning or not?”

Angel dramatically sighed, “ _Fine_ , I’ll audition.”

_Maybe this’ll turn out better than the last time I auditioned for something._

“So it’s settled, you three will audition alongside other students.” Alastor said, “I promise I will not let any biases get in the way of my casting decisions.”

Husk snorted, “He’s gonna cast the Princess as the lead, just watch.”

“Oh hush now!” Alastor replied, lightly pulling at some of Husk’s hair, “If she does get cast as the lead, it will be because she was best for it! But who’s to say she’ll be a lead at all?”

Yep, she was definitely getting the lead.

-

Angel didn’t like the recent rainy weather.

It was fucking annoying, he hated getting wet, and it was very inconvenient when he decided to walk the streets to make some extra cash after work. Now he had to hide under some roof to avoid getting soaked, and he was too far from where he’d parked his car to get to it without getting drenched.

He sighed, pulling his sweater closer to himself. He was still in his boots, and the shorts he’d danced in, but he’d thrown on a cute sweater he’d had in his car before going out.

_Fucking rain. Better end soon._

He pulled out his phone, checking the weather.

It didn’t look like it was gonna end soon.

_Fuck._

Well, if he was gonna be stuck in the city at fuck-you late hours of the night for who knew how long, he might as well go inside.

Speaking of going inside, the bar he was currently huddled in front of was surprisingly open.

He contemplated stepping in. It was his best bet to keep warm in this shitty weather, and he could probably get his hands on a drink. Worst case scenario he’d flirt with the bartender to get one without an ID.

_Okay, mind made up, going into the bar._

The minute he stepped in, he shivered from the feeling of the AC. It took him a moment to adjust, being a little bit wet from the rain.

He heard somebody mutter something, turning his head to see where the source of the sound was.

And it was then that he saw Husk behind the bar.

What the fuck?

Husk noticed him, before looking away, running a hand down his face with a sigh.

Angel smirked as he sauntered over to the bar, past the few patrons that remained there at such late hours, drunk and likely feeling sorry for themselves.

“ _Hey Husky_ , fancy seeing you here.” Angel said as he sat down, right in front of where Husk stood, “You work here?”

Husk groaned, muttering something Angel had a hunch were swear words under his breath, “Yes. I work here. The fuck are you doing here?”

“Just hangin’ around. Started raining, and poor little me needed somewhere warm.” Angel said, feigning innocence, “Found this place.”

“Small world then.” Husk said, sounding completely unconvinced and even more annoyed.

“Can I get a drink, please?” Angel asked, before telling Husk what specific drink he wanted, without looking at the menu.

“Sorry, but I can’t serve minors.” Husk said.

“When did you graduate again?” Angel asked.

Husk blinked, before raising an eyebrow, “Two years ago.”

“Then can you even serve _anyone_? You can’t be older than twenty.” Angel said, “Can you even work at this bar? Or drink?”

Husk scowled.

“Fine, I’ll get you your damn drink.” Husk said, “And what are you gonna do, report this place? You’re dressed like a hooker, that would raise some questions.”

Angel grimaced, but quickly disguised it as a smile, “Oh please, babe, I’m smarter than that. I wouldn’t get anywhere near a cop.”

“Well at least you’ve got some brains.” Husk said, placing the drink Angel had ordered on the bar in front of him.

Angel smiled as he took it, leaning on the bar, “How will I pay you back, I wonder?”

“With money.” Husk said dryly, before telling him the price and holding a hand out.

Angel reached into the pocket of his sweater, where he had some cash from what he’d been doing before the rain. He counted out the dollar bills to pay Husk before handing it to him.

“Keep the change.” He said, before taking a sip of his drink.

The two didn’t talk much for the rest of the night, but Angel made a mental note to come back to this bar.

-

“Okay, so yesterday me and Vaggie printed out some posters for the audition.” Charlie said, “Today we’re gonna hang them up around the school, during our first official club meeting on campus!”

A stack of flyers was shoved into Angel’s hands, before more were being handed to others as well. _Great_.

Once Charlie was done handing all the flyers out, she faced the group.

“We’re gonna split into groups.” She said, “Me and Vaggie will hang them up on the first floor of the main building, Niffty and Molly will handle the second floor, Angel and Husk will handle the second building, and Alastor will hang some up in areas where only teachers can go.”

“Why do we have to do a whole building?” Husk asked.

“Because the second building is one story, but the first one is two. If you think we’re giving you more work, we aren’t.” Vaggie said, crossing her arms.

“Are you two grouped together just to make out?” Angel asked, “Because it sure sounds like it.”

Charlie flushed, stammering out a denial. Angel just laughed, before turning to Husk.

“Looks like it’ll just be you and me. Finally some alone time.” He said, leaning towards Husk, before promptly getting shoved.

As he fell back he felt like he couldn’t breathe, and he gasped out for air. When he landed, it was just on his butt, not a hard fall by any means, but it felt like he’d just gotten hit in the head with how he was left reeling.

Angel blinked as he regained a sense of things. _What the fuck was that?_

He shook his head a few times, to clear it, before standing back up on uncomfortably shaky legs.

When he looked around and saw that nobody noticed, he was relieved.

After Charlie said a few more things, the group split up, and Husk and Angel left the theater, where the group had been sitting. They began the short walk to the second building.

“So, what have you been up to?” Angel asked, bumping Husk with his shoulder.

“Why can’t you just fucking leave me alone?” Husk replied with a sigh.

“Because that would be boring, Husky.”

“Don’t call me that, I’m not a fucking dog.”

Angel just chuckled, “Nah.”

They were quiet for a bit, just walking quietly.

“So what were you doing working at a bar that late at night?” Angel asked suddenly.

“What were you doing _at_ a bar that late at night?” Husk replied.

“Got caught in the rain.” Angel said with a shrug.

“Dressed like that?”

“You sure are fixated on what I was wearing, Husky.”

Husk’s face flushed, and he glared at Angel, as if he’d run out of ways to tell him to fuck off. Angel just smirked back at him, awfully pleased with himself.

“I was makin’ some extra cash and it started to rain.” Angel said after he calmed down.

“So you do more than just shit at the school?” Husk asked. Angel pretended he didn’t notice the judgement in the other’s voice.

“Why, you interested?” Angel replied.

Husk’s face wrinkled up, “Fuck no. I’m just curious.”

“Well, if you must know, it’s really none of your fucking business.” Angel said, “ _But_ we did cross paths and you don’t seem like the type of guy to share people’s secrets, so whatever.”

Husk quirked an eyebrow, looking the closest thing his grumpy self could to interested.

“I was working on the streets and in the city for a while before I worked at school.” Angel said with a shrug.

“Aren’t you still underage?” Husk asked, “How long have you been doing this?”

“What is this, some sort of interrogation?” Angel asked, “And why do you wanna know, you wanna see if you can fuck me and not feel bad about it?”

Again, Husk’s face flushed and he stammered, which Angel counted as a win.

Angel couldn’t help but notice how Husk avoided discussing his job after that.


	4. I've a good and a bad side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **_“I don’t look for trouble  
> _ ** **_I do not accept blame  
> _ ** **_I’ve a good and a bad side  
> _ ** **_But they’re one and the same”  
> _ ** **\- The Games I Play from Falsettos**

Angel sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair, skimming over the script he’d been handed. He was supposed to read a monologue from this, and sing some song to audition.

Right now, they were doing the vocal part of the audition. Just a part of a song from a musical, and each person auditioning had to sing something.

Some girl that Angel honestly couldn’t care about was singing right now. He wasn’t paying attention to it, and didn’t care anyway.

As the girl finished, Alastor clapped.

Everyone else who was auditioning - which consisted of Charlie, Angel, Molly, and two random kids who surprisingly had shown up - was backstage while each person went out and sang. They just pretended they couldn’t hear everyone.

The girl walked backstage, only to be nearly tackle hugged by one of the two other kids. They talked in hushed tones as the girl - now with this kid practically hanging onto her - joined the rest of the kids where they were sitting by the mirrors in the dressing room.

“Molly Ragno. You’re up!” Alastor called from where he was in the theater.

Of course Alastor, in his attempts at “showing no bias,” called everyone by their full names, even the people he knew. Angel could kind of understand it, but it was inconvenient when he preferred going by a name that he hadn’t signed up with.

To be fair, how could he sign up with a name that wasn’t his _actual_ name?

And to be fair, he had nothing against Anthony. But to him, it felt like Anthony Ragno was dead, was a kid who’d died alongside his innocence. He’d left Angel Dust in his wake, and that was who he was now.

But it was poetic bullshit like this that usually annoyed Angel, so he kept those feelings to himself. Just said he liked the name Angel more, and wouldn’t reply when asked why.

Because he didn’t really _need_ a reason, fuck you.

Molly started to sing once she got the music playing from her phone.

She’d chosen a song from Wicked. Angel didn’t quite catch it all, but he could recognize it. Of course he could.

He winced when he heard her voice crack, but overall her voice was strong. A bit flat sometimes, but she could be a good singer if she put her mind to it.

His mom had always said that about both himself and Molly. Hell, she’d said it about Arackniss.

Arackniss had a weirdly deep voice, one that definitely could be a good singing voice, so it made sense. But Angel couldn’t see how _his_ voice, as weird as it could sound at times, could be good for singing.

He supposed he wasn’t the person to judge that, though.

Molly finished singing, receiving a polite one person applause from Alastor, and when she walked back in, Angel smiled at her, giving a thumbs up.

“Ugh, I fucked up.” Molly whispered to Angel, sitting beside him, “I don’t know why I chose that song, it doesn’t fit my voice.”

“Charlotte Magne!” Alastor called. Charlie got up, quickly waving to the group before heading onstage.

“I think you did good.” The girl - who Angel didn’t know her name - said.

“Thanks.” Molly said, smiling, “You did good too.”

The girl chuckled, looking away, “Thanks.”

“What song was that again?” Angel asked Molly, “It sounded familiar.”

“It was Defying Gravity. A bit overdone but not _too_ bad.” Molly said.

“Oh. Cool. I don’t remember anything from Wicked.” Angel replied.

Charlie came back, sitting down next to Angel.

“You’re next.” She said.

“That sounds like a threat.” Angel replied.

As if on cue, Alastor called out, “Anthony Ragno!”

Angel sighed.

“Why can’t you just fuckin’ call me Angel?” He muttered as he walked to the stage.

He got there, standing in the center, looking at Alastor, who was seated in the audience.

Oh yeah, this definitely was familiar.

Suddenly Angel understood what the other students meant when they said it was scary. This was fucking _uncomfortable_.

Angel took a deep breath.

“Hello, Angel.” Alastor said, holding a clipboard, “What song will you be singing?”

“Um,” Angel tried not to stammer, “I’m singin’ The Games I Play from that one musical, uh, Falsettos?”

It came out sounding more like a question, but Alastor didn't acknowledge it.

Alastor nodded, “Alright then. If you have music, get it cued up.”

Angel did not have music, but he suddenly wished he had.

Fuck it, he could bluff.

He took out his phone, quickly searching for a karaoke of the song. Falsettos was popular enough, there should be a karaoke of that song, right?

Oh, good. There was.

Okay, time to see if his ability to keep time with songs he barely knew was actually real or if he was just bullshitting himself.

He placed his phone down as the song began, and he braced himself.

And he started to sing.

“ _I don’t look for trouble…_ ”

By the time he finished singing, he swore he was about to explode just from how tense he felt. He didn’t sing in front of people, that was weird. He hadn’t sang in front of anybody besides Cherri in so long, and even then, that hardly happened, and they were usually plastered, so it wasn’t like he actually _tried_.

He picked up his phone again, giving Alastor a small nod, before walking backstage. He sat down next to Molly, staring ahead of himself and not saying anything.

“Angel, I didn’t know you could sing that well!” Charlie exclaimed. Angel blinked, startled out of the weird anxiety-induced funk he’d been in.

“Oh, um, I-” He stammered, not sure how to take that compliment, “I’m not _that_ good.”

“Shut up, you did awesome.” Molly said, elbowing his side.

“You shut up.” He replied, elbowing her right back.

-

“So, wait, you’re actually taking this shit seriously?”

Angel shrugged, “Eh, not really. But I might as well put in _some_ effort, y’know? And it’s not like I really had a choice to audition, anyway.”

“That’s true.” Cherri said, throwing another balloon full of paint at the wall.

They were sitting in the backyard of an abandoned house in Cherri’s neighborhood. They’d found the place a few months after they’d first become friends, and it had become their place when they wanted to hang out alone. Especially when they wanted to blow off steam.

Cherri had texted Angel earlier that day - it was Tuesday, they were skipping school - and told him to come to the house. And now they were throwing paint-filled balloons at the wall, talking about random shit.

Even if she didn’t tell him why, Angel knew that Cherri’s parents were the reason she needed to blow off steam. After years of basically neglecting her, they’d suddenly taken an interest in her life, and been infuriatingly hard on her. It was one extreme and then the other, all of a sudden.

Angel was just glad they didn’t do much more than scold her. It wasn’t like that stopped her from doing anything, of course. But he didn’t want to see his best friend hurt.

“So the club is holding auditions, you said?” Cherri said.

“Yep.” Angel replied, taking his turn to throw a balloon, “Why, you interested?”

“ _Eh_ , not really.” Cherri said, “I mean, singing is fun and all, but I don’t think I’d be all that good in theater.”

She launched another balloon at the wall, and laughed to herself when it made a satisfying splat against the wall, adding another splash of red to the already colorful surface.

“Why not? I’m not exactly a Broadway actor and I’m doing it. Plus,” Angel threw a balloon, “it would be a lot more bearable with you there.”

Cherri shrugged, leaning back for a moment, “Okay, maybe I’ll give it a shot. It’ll be an excuse to avoid the wardens. When are the auditions?”

Angel chuckled at Cherri’s nickname for her parents.

“Well, the next ones are tomorrow after school. That would be your last shot to do it.” He said.

Cherri threw another balloon, before looking over at Angel to reply.

“That’s kinda inconvenient. They aren’t giving that many days.” She said.

“Take it up with the management.” Angel said with a shrug, before throwing a pink balloon at the wall. The paint inside of it was white, and it contrasted against the colorful wall in a very fun looking splatter.

“You sure you wanna see more of me?” Cherri asked with a laugh, grabbing a water bottle that Angel was pretty sure actually had vodka in it.

“Duh, you’re one of the only people I like in this shithole town.” Angel replied, before being handed the water bottle Cherri had just taken a sip from. He took a sip and yep, that was definitely vodka. He gulped down more.

“Aw, shucks. I’m flattered.” Cherri replied.

Angel handed the now significantly lighter bottle back to Cherri, before slinging his arm back, and throwing the balloon a bit harder than before.

“You better fuckin’ be.”

-

“You don’t have to be here, Angel.” Charlie said.

“I know, but I wanna be.” Angel replied, taking a seat in the audience.

Vaggie sighed, but didn’t say anything. Angel considered it a win.

The auditions were pretty quick. Only three people were there, including Cherri, much to Charlie’s dismay.

Cherri was the second one up (in between two girls named Loona and Octavia, who were both daughters of teachers - Angel recognized them), and even Angel was impressed at her singing. He knew she had a good voice, but he didn’t know how much better it could sound when she actually tried.

When they sang together it was usually just fucking around, singing along to a song on the radio or making up a song to talk shit about someone (usually their families or Mr. Pentious). And usually they were drunk. So this was a discovery.

Not a bad one, though. If anything, it meant Cherri had more of a shot at being in the show.

Speaking of his friend, the auditions had ended, which meant she’d come out any time now.

As soon as she did, Angel booked it to her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.

“Why’d you never tell me you could sing like that, bitch?!” He exclaimed, receiving a snort from the younger teen.

“Shut up.” She replied.

“I think the fuck not.” Angel said, “Tell me your secrets.”

“I don’t think they’d translate very well. We have very different voices.” Cherri said.

Angel groaned, leaning on Cherri, using his height to his advantage, “You’re a cruel and unjust best friend.”

“Aw, I’m your best friend?”  
“Not anymore you’re not.”  
“ _Aw_ , fuck you.”  
“Fuck you.”

The two promptly began to laugh, and only laughed harder at Vaggie and Charlie’s confused expressions.

“So, what’s on your schedule for tonight?” Cherri asked as she and Angel made their way to the doors, going to leave the school.

“Can’t hang out.” Angel said, kicking a piece of paper that had fallen off of a corkboard, “Work calls.”

“Ugh. Do I need to punch anyone?” Cherri asked.

“There’s plenty of motherfuckers who _should_ be punched, but no. As great as it would be, you shouldn’t.” Angel said.

“Damn it. I was really hoping I could punch that rat bastard sometime.” Cherri replied.

“Maybe someday.” Angel said, like that would ever happen, “But that day is not today.”

“It sadly isn’t.” Cherri agreed.

Now outside of the school building, facing the parking lot, Cherri surprised Angel by pulling him into a hug.

“Be careful.” She said, like she always did when they hung out before Angel had to work.

“You know I will be.” Angel replied, returning the hug.

They pulled apart a moment later than what most would consider normal, and parted ways.

Time to walk home and wish it could last forever.

-

The cast list had been announced.

Not _literally_ announced. It had been hung up by the theater.

Angel’s name was on the list. Of course, it was going to be no matter what. But it wasn’t in the ensemble list like he’d expected.

He was Seymour. The lead.

_What. The. Fuck._

He didn’t know what to feel. Excited? Annoyed? Flattered? Bashful? Some other emotion? What the fuck?

Angel settled on acting proud of himself. Even if he was internally screaming about it, he could play it off. He knew a thing or two about doing that.

Better than that, Cherri was the voice of the plant.

Angel didn’t even know the plant could be voiced by a girl. But to be fair, he supposed the plant could be voiced by anyone. And fuck yeah, it was Cherri.

Everyone had expected Charlie to get Audrey, and it was no surprise when she indeed _was_ cast as the leading lady. Not that she wasn’t good for the part - she was, but it was very funny how the club president was the lead.

Was Alastor really unbiased?

Then again, he’d cast Angel as Seymour ( _the lead!_ ), so he must’ve been pretty damn unbiased.

It was the first official rehearsal, but it was only gonna last for maybe half an hour, just introducing the cast to each other. The next day they’d actually read through the play, and then start working.

They stood in a circle in the drama classroom - which had been used for storage after the drama department had been defunded.

“Okay, so, in a circle, we’ll introduce ourselves.” Charlie said, “We’ll say name, pronouns, role, and a fun fact about yourself if you’d like.”

Angel couldn’t help but find this a bit stupid, but hey, he could fuck around.

“I’ll start. I’m Charlie, I use she/her, I’m playing Audrey, and I created this club.” Charlie said, before looking bashful, “I feel kinda weird about how I was cast considering I started this whole thing, but I wasn’t put in charge of it, so I don’t know…” She trailed off.

Angel snorted.

Then they went around the circle.

“I’m Vaggie, the stage manager. She/her.”  
“My name is Alastor! I go by he/him. I am the director of this lovely play! I teach history at this school.”  
“Hi! I’m Niffty! She/her! I’ll be part of the crew! And I go to the local college nearby!”  
“Husk. He/him.”

“Husker, you have to say what you do.” Alastor had whispered - more like stage whispered, being the human embodiment of an exclamation point - to Husk.

“Ugh. This is stupid.” Husk replied, “Fine. I’m tech.”

Then it was Angel’s turn.

“Call me Angel. He/him. I’m playing Seymour. And I’m a fuckin’ slut.”

He saw Charlie’s eyes widen at the same moment that Vaggie sighed, putting her head in her hands. He couldn’t help but smirk, holding back a laugh.

Cherri laughed, before continuing the circle.

“I’m Cherri. She/her. I’ll be the voice of Audrey II. And I am what I’d call an aspiring arsonist.”

That got some concerned looks, which was the best thing ever.

And the circle continued.

“Loona. She/her. I’m Mushnik, for... some reason.”  
“My name is Baxter. I use he/him pronouns, and I’m playing Orin. I have an interest in science.”  
“I’m Octavia. She/her pronouns. I’ll be Ronnete. My dad teaches astronomy here.”  
“Alice. She/her. I’m playing Chiffon. Um, I’m an aspiring writer.”  
“I’m Molly. She/her. I’m Crystal. I’m also working on the costumes for this play.”

That finished their circle.

Based on some of the people here… this was gonna be a long show.

-

“ _Hey_ , Husky.” Angel cooed, leaning over the bar like he had each night for the last week.

Husk just grumbled something under his breath, starting to make Angel’s usual drink of choice.

“Aw, you remembered my order? How sweet.” Angel said.

“Shut the fuck up.” Husk replied, but it sounded more tired than angry.

Okay, Angel wasn’t _that_ shitty, he knew when to let up.

“So how’s your night been?” He asked as he handed Husk the money he owed.

Husk shrugged, not looking at him and instead beginning to wipe off a glass.

“Well that sounds _interesting_.” Angel replied sarcastically, “C’mon, no weird customers? No crazy crowd? No asshole boss? Did you like, I don’t know, accidentally fall asleep on the job? If it’s so boring, that would make sense.”

Husk sighed, looking up and glaring at the ceiling for a moment.

“What, is something up there or something?” Angel asked, “Fuckin’ talk to me, I’m bored!”

“Why can’t you just leave me the fuck alone?” Husk snapped.

“Because you’re cute.” Angel replied, “I’m bored and just want a drink, why not make conversation?”

Husk didn’t reply, but he didn’t tell Angel to fuck off either, so that meant _something_.

“Well, you remembered my order, so that means you’ve been paying _some_ attention.” Angel muttered, taking a sip from said drink, “God, I need to order harder shit some time. If I didn’t wanna deal with a hangover in the morning I totally fuckin’ would.”

They sat there quietly for a bit, Angel taking sips from his drink and Husk pretending to clean the glass that had to be shining by how much he’d wiped it off.

“It’s a school night, isn’t it?” Husk asked after a good few minutes of this silence, “What the fuck are you doing here when you’ve gotta wake up early?”

“So he does know things.” Angel said, “Like I told you, I gotta work.”

“What job hires a teenager that requires work every night at weird ass hours?” Husk asked, “Or are you self employed or something?”

“Nah. I _wish_ I was self employed.” Angel replied.

“Then how the fuck does that work?” Husk said.

“It’s called breaking the law, Husky, you should know a thing or two about it considerin’ _your own_ job.” Angel said, “How old are you anyway?”

Husk looked at Angel for a moment, like he was analyzing his face.

“Why the fuck do you wanna know?” Husk asked, “It better not be for anything gross.”

“For _once_ it’s not. I’m just curious.” Angel replied, “I’m almost offended you think it’s for something gross. What, think I’m asking to see if I could get away with sleeping with you?”

“Ugh. No.” Husk said, grimacing.

“Well?”  
“Well what?”  
“ _Well_ , how old are you?”

Husk sighed, “I’m nineteen. Will that get you off my back?”

“Yep.” Angel said, “So, a nineteen year old alcoholic. How’s that work?”

“Dumb decisions in highschool. Isn’t that how a teenage prostitute works?” Husk replied.

Angel held back a grimace, rolling his eyes, “Sure, I guess you could say that.”

_More like bad decisions in middle school, all things considered._

Angel thought about it for a moment, staring at the wood of the bar. Looking at all the little lines and details.

 _Nah, highschool_ is _right._

“No taking it back now.” Husk said, taking a swig of his beer, “Gotta suck it up and just fuckin’ live with it.”

“Easy for you to say, but I see what you mean, Husky.” Angel replied.

“The fuck does that mean?” Husk questioned.

Angel waved his hand around, “Not important.”

“Okay…” Husk replied, giving him a weird look.

Angel ignored it.

“Anyways,” He said, changing the topic with a shrug, “How’d you get tied up with Mr. Cerf?”

“How anyone else does. I had him in junior year and we kept in touch.” Husk said, finally looking at Angel completely.

“Hey, that’s the first time you've made eye contact! So ya' _do_ like me.” Angel commented, receiving a glare and middle finger from Husk.

Angel wrapped his hand around said middle finger, laughing as Husk’s face turned red, and he started cursing at him in multiple languages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry for the long wait! In December I decided to take a break from this fic to focus on a more festive idea I had, and took a break from this, but then it ended up becoming harder to write said festive fic.  
> I originally planned to only take a break for maybe a few weeks, but obviously it ended up being longer.  
> I can't promise that I'll post the next part at the usual time I would, because I've recently been really burnt out and having some mental health problems, but I can promise that it will come out eventually. I love this fic and a few bumps in the road won't stop me from writing it, especially not so early in the story.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!


	5. So I’ve got a black eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **_"I know Seymour's the greatest  
>  But I'm dating a semi-sadist  
> So I've got a black eye  
> And my arm's in a cast"_  
> \- Somewhere That's Green from Little Shop of Horrors**

_Fuck.  
No, no, no, they have to be in here.  
...  
They're not here.  
Motherfucker!_

Angel groaned, covering his face. He ignored other dancers' confused looks as he sat there, hunched over his bag.

He'd forgotten his knee pads.

_How could he have forgotten his knee pads?!_

He had to do floor work tonight, and dancing without those fuckers would bruise his knees even more. Sure, not the worst that he'd dealt with before, but it would not be fun. And dancing the next night would be more difficult. Or doing anything in general, with his long ass legs.

"Hey, does anyone have spare knee pads or something?" Angel asked, looking up from his hands.

The other dancers shook their heads, giving various versions of the same answer. No.

"I have a thick pair of socks that could work, but you're a solid foot taller than me, so they probably wouldn't reach." One dancer said, "Sorry."

Angel sighed, slumping, "It's okay. I'll put up with it."

He'd gone through his bag the night before, just to clean it out and see what clothes needed to be cleaned. And of course he'd forgotten to put his knee pads back in.

This was not going to be easy.

-

Bruised knees or not, Angel wasn't going to let any injury stop him from going to the bar.

He had a routine. He was going to maintain it. He was going to the bar to annoy Husk until he got bored and snuck back home.

Opening the door he was greeted with the familiar sight of the empty room, save for the usual few passed out drunks that were almost always there.

Husk sat at the bar, tapping it with his finger, when he saw Angel enter. He raised an eyebrow at his sour expression.

Angel walked over to the bar, taking his usual seat with an annoyed huff, and he ignored how he felt his knees bump against the bar as he sat down. _Goddamn long legs._

"Uh, you okay there?" Husk asked hesitantly.

Angel huffed, "No. I fucked up my knees."

Husk's face twisted into a grimace, before he sighed.

"I don't even wanna know."  
"It's not like that. I was dancin' and forgot my knee pads."

Husk got to work on Angel's drink.

"Dancing?" He asked, "What do ya' mean 'dancing?'"

"I'm a dancer." Angel said, "Or, well, I guess stripper would be a betta thing to call it."

Husk furrowed his eyebrows, "How'd that happen? You definitely need some paperwork for that or somethin', right?"

"Yeah, and that's where I'll stop talkin'. It's none a' your business." Angel said as Husk slid his drink over to him.

"Fair 'nough." Husk replied, eyeing Angel for a moment, "You need ice or something?"

Angel blinked, staring at Husk like he was from another planet.

"What?"

Husk sighed, "I asked if you needed ice. If you hurt your knees, it could help."

Angel kept staring for a few seconds, before he shrugged.

"Sure. Ice probably would help." He said.

That was how Angel ended up with his legs propped up on the stool beside him, with a makeshift ice pack over his knees.

"Those bruises looked ugly. The fuck were you doing?" Husk asked.

"Dancing. I already told ya'." Angel replied.

"I don't buy that. How the fuck do ya' bruise yourself _that_ badly from dancing?"  
"I left my knee pads at home. They usually help, but I had to dance without 'em."  
"Oh. That's shitty."

Angel stretched out, raising his arms up behind his head, "Yep."

"Why'd you dance then?" Husk asked, "I mean, unless you didn't know you were gonna get hurt, I don't see why any sane person would still do it."

"Ya' think _I_ had a say in the matter?" Angel replied.

Husk started wiping a glass on the bar, likely just looking for something to do with his hands and somewhere to look besides Angel.

"I thought you would." He said, "Wouldn't have guessed otherwise."

"Well, prepare to be surprised then." Angel replied.

They were both quiet as Angel took another sip of his drink.

"Well that fuckin' sucks."

Angel snorted, trying not to spit out his drink.

Husk glared at him, "You better not spill that all over my bar. You're not gettin' a refill. And what's so funny?"

Angel managed to stop laughing long enough to swallow his drink, before he broke into giggles.

"Nothing, it's nothing. Just surprised me." He said, calming down, "And I won't spill it, kitty."

"'Kitty?'"  
"Yeah. You're like a grumpy cat. So, kitty."  
"...Don't call me that."

"Why not, Husky?" Angel asked, leaning against the bar, careful not to move his legs, "It's cute. Like you."

He booped Husk's nose, and couldn't help but laugh when Husk scrunched it up in response.

Husk glared at him, "Fuck off."

"Nah."

He just received an eyeroll, before Husk started trying to clean another glass.

-

Angel tapped his foot on the ground.

Another day, another visit to the office, it seemed. This time because a teacher had shown up in the wrong boy's bathroom when Angel was with a client. Now they were seated in the office.

The boy's parents were being called, and Angel ignored the glares he received from him. He was only doing what he'd been paid to do! This wasn't _his_ fault!

Finally the door to the office opened, and in walked a woman who Angel didn't recognize. Though, all things considered, Angel could guess she was his mother. And she looked concerned.

And then in walked his father.

Angel's blood ran cold.

Quickly, he pulled up his hood. Today he was wearing a cropped hoodie over a tank top, it was a favorite of his, and in times like these he couldn't help but appreciate it.

The boy's father was a familiar face, and in the worst way possible.

He was a regular client of Angel's, an asshole named Travis. The same regular that he'd seen before at the school, with his daughter.

Turns out he had two kids, apparently.

Sadly, putting on his hood wasn't gonna fly when he was in the school office.

"Anthony, take your hood off." The secretary said.

Angel opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it. With a sigh, he put his hood back down.

As soon as he did, he could tell he was being watched. He didn't look in the direction of the boy's parents, but he knew Travis was staring right at him.

This was going to be horrible, he just knew it.

-

"Chris, Mr. and Mrs. Byrd." The vice principal addressed them, "Anthony."

He raised an eyebrow when he saw Angel sitting alone.

"Anthony, are your parents here?" He asked.

Angel leaned back in his seat, feigning nonchalance, "Nah. Pops is working. So's my brother, he's my listed contact."

"Do you have anybody else we could call?"  
"Unless you wanna pull my sister out of class, no."

Angel was careful not to drop any names with Travis in the room. It was bad enough that he knew what school he went to now, and what his actual name was. He was standing behind the boy's seat at the moment, away from Angel, but Angel knew he was still staring at him.

The vice principal sighed, rubbing at his eyes.

"Well, I did call your brother. He'll probably talk to you when you get home, I suppose."

Angel refrained from telling him how Arackniss likely wasn't going to talk to him _at all_ when he got home, let alone about this.

"Well if he's not here, can I go?" Angel asked. He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

In response he got stared down, and Angel looked right back, raising an eyebrow.

The vice principal sighed, running a hand down his face, "I guess it makes no sense to keep you here. You know what you've done wrong."

Angel knew for a fact that he just wanted him out of the office, considering how many times he'd been there already.

He quickly got out of his seat with a nod.

"You need to stop doing this, Anthony." The vice principal said as Angel reached the door, "This is the fourth time this year."

Instead of replying, Angel just walked out, closing the door behind him.

"Back to class?" The secretary asked.

Angel nodded, wanting to find some place alone where he could process the fact that _one of his regular clients had just seen him at school_.

He made his way into the bathroom - a different bathroom than the one he'd just gotten caught in - and hid in a stall.

Okay, so there were a few different outcomes that could happen from this situation.

Travis could contact the authorities. It was unlikely, seeing as the business was illegal even without Angel being a part of it, and Travis very often paid for their services. So that possibility wasn't on the table.

Travis could try to talk to Valentino, maybe thinking he didn't know. But at the same time, Travis wasn't so stupid to think that Valentino wouldn't know that. He was an idiot, but not to that extreme.

Travis could just pretend nothing happened, or convince himself he was imagining things, and keep coming to the club. Unlikely, but maybe.

Or Travis could stop going to the club. That was pretty likely, based on the one glimpse Angel got of his face showing how mortified he was. And honestly, he wouldn't complain about Travis not going anymore. The man was gross, and pretty sleazy. Angel wouldn't complain.

But Val would.

_Fuck, there really is no winning, huh?_

Angel could hope that Val wouldn't put two and two together. Because, to be fair, _he_ didn't even know what school Angel went to. He obviously knew Angel was in high school, but nothing beyond that. And he also knew that Angel wouldn't share that information with anyone else even if he wanted to, Val had made sure of that.

Though, Angel had mentioned his job to Husk.

But nothing about Val. And it wasn't like Husk would be going to the club any time soon.

Taking a deep breath, Angel left the bathroom stall as he heard the bell ring. He had to rush to his last period and grab his backpack if he wanted to make it to his next class on time.

-

Something nice about the drama club was that it met about half an hour after school ended.

It gave Angel time to put his stuff away in his locker - though he hardly took anything out of it, his textbooks were literally gathering dust - and to just walk around the school, slowly making his way to the theater while he let himself just breathe for a little bit. Or that was what he did when he had no clients.

As he stepped outside, in the courtyard in between the buildings, heading to the theater, the air was quiet. It was nice, after being so stressed today.

The quiet, however, was ruined by the sound of the door behind him opening, quickly followed by heavy footsteps rushing closer to him.

 _Fuck_.

Suddenly he was pushed.

He flew into a wall, and hissed as he felt his shoulder make contact with it. _That was definitely gonna bruise_.

"What the fuck?!" He called out, turning to face whoever had just shoved him.

It was the boy from earlier. Travis' son. If Angel remembered right, his name was Chris.

"You fucking-" He huffed, "You ruined _everything_."

_Oh. This shit._

Angel tried to inch away from where he was leaning against the wall, but Chris saw him. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, and there was a dull pain in his nose. One he was familiar with, after working for Val for almost three years.

Pressing a hand up to his nose, and feeling what was definitely blood, he indeed confirmed that he'd just been punched.

He quickly tried to get up, only for Chris to kick him in the side, knocking him over again. He went down with an audible grunt, and moved his hands to shield his face, curling in on himself.

"If it wasn't for you my parents wouldn't know." Chris rambled, "And now they're gonna think I'm like _you_."

Angel managed to roll away from the next kick, and said with a shaky smirk, "Well ya' _are_."

He very quickly regretted it, as he received another blow to the face.

This was definitely gonna need some ice, and probably a tissue.

-

"Anthony, what the fuck happened to you?!" Molly exclaimed as Angel finally walked into the theater.

He was covered in scrapes and bruises with a paper towel from the school bathroom held up to his nose.

"Some asshole." Angel replied, sitting down in the seat he'd taken to always sitting in during the last few rehearsals, "It's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal, you're all beat up!"  
"It's really not, Molls, I've dealt with worse."  
"Is that supposed to be comforting?!"

Angel rolled his eyes, blinking back tears because it really did hurt, and leaned back.

"No, but it just means that I can handle this. I'm fine." Angel said, "The kid didn't do any _real_ damage."

Molly sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she muttered to herself in Italian.

"Angie, c'mere." Cherri said, standing up and waving over for Angel to follow her backstage.

Shit, he knew where this was going.

"Yeah, what's up?" He asked once they were back and out of earshot from everyone else. He kept watch of the entrance to the backstage, however, weary of anybody trying to eavesdrop.

"You know what." Cherri said, "What happened, who the fuck did this? I know it wasn't the rat bastard, seeing as there's no way you went to the club since school ended, so who was it?"

"Some kid. A client." Angel said, "We got caught. His parents were called in, and he's mad that he's now out to his parents. Like I had control over that."

Cherri frowned, looking at him sympathetically, "Do you need any help cleaning up?"

"I'll be fine." Angel replied, "I know how to treat a bloody nose and I can clean myself up properly when I get home, or during a break."

Cherri nodded.

They were quiet for a bit, just standing there, taking in the silence.

"There's another thing." Angel admitted quietly.

Cherri's eyes immediately scanned his face, "What? What's wrong?"

Angel wrapped one arm around his side, looking at the floor.

"I've told you about Travis before, right?"  
"Yeah, he's a dick."

With a deep breath, Angel said, "The kid who did this turned out to be his son. He saw me in the office when he and his wife were called in. He knows."

Cherri blinked.

"Oh god. Oh _fuck_." She replied, "What do you think he's gonna do?"

"Either pretend nothing happened and keep showin' up, or stop going to the club." Angel said, "I can't see him reporting Val or something."

Cherri snorted, "Yeah, he's too much of a pussy to do anything."

Angel couldn't help but smirk at that.

"Yeah, and hey, who knew he and his son had similar tastes?" Angel laughed, though he quickly trailed off as his smile fell.

"That's a shitty joke to make." He said, "This sucks."

Cherri put a hand on his arm, giving it a small squeeze. Angel smiled back at her.

"Yeah." She replied, "Wanna blow some shit up after this rehearsal?"

"I'm gonna have to tell the boss I'm sick or something, but seeing as I'm in no state to dance anyway, why the fuck not?" Angel asked.

Cherri grinned, "Fuck yeah."

Angel laughed, and jokingly pat Cherri on the head. He was around a head taller than her, and he liked bringing attention to it.

"Thanks, sugartits." He said, "Now that we're done makin' everyone worry, let's go back."

Cherri quickly ran off to the bathroom backstage, and Angel heard running water before she ran back, holding a damp wad of paper towels. He raised an eyebrow.

"Is your nose done bleeding? Because you should clean it up." She said.

Angel took the offered paper towels, taking what he had pressed to his nose away. It had indeed stopped bleeding, which was a relief.

"You're smart, Cher. I don't know what the fuck your teachers mean." Angel said as he dabbed at the blood remaining on his face, using one of the dressing room mirrors.

"Yeah, they're fucking crazy." Cherri replied.

"Yeah." Angel agreed, tossing both bloody paper towels in the nearest trash can.

"Okay, _now_ let's go." Cherri said.

The two walked back out, where Niffty, Husk, and a few of the other cast members Angel didn't remember the names of were there as well now.

They didn't notice much being off about him, seeing as his nose was no longer bleeding, so nothing looked off besides the bruises on his arms and legs, which weren't really obvious yet. His makeup was also messed up, but he'd messed with it a little bit to make it less noticeable.

He and Cherri took seats in the audience, Cherri sitting in the row in front of him and him sitting right behind her.

"Okay, everyone!" Charlie said, standing in front of the group of people sitting in the audience, "Today we're gonna begin working on vocals. We're gonna obviously start with the opening song."

"So, we're going to need Alice, Octavia, and Molly on the stage." Alastor said, "The rest of you can keep yourselves entertained."

The mentioned girls did go onstage, and Angel noticed Vaggie, Niffty, and Husk go backstage, likely going to discuss tech stuff or something.

"Well, this is fuckin' boring." Cherri said, turning in her chair to speak to Angel, who sat behind her.

"Yeah." Angel said with a shrug, "But honestly I'd rather be here than up there."

"You're gonna be called for the next song, though." Cherri replied.

"Ugh. Don't remind me." Angel replied with a dramatic groan.

"Shut the fuck up, you'll kill it."  
"You think if I kill it they'll all die and I can leave?"

Cherri burst out laughing, quickly getting shushed by the others, who she just flipped off before going back to talking to Angel.

"Wanna try to steal from a vending machine?" Cherri asked.

"How the fuck would we even be able to do that?" Angel replied.

"I don't fucking know. I saw a video on it once." Cherri said, "It can't be that hard."

"Sure. Why not?" Angel said, standing up as Cherri did.

As they made their way to the exit of the theater, they were stopped.

"Where do you think you're going?" They heard Vaggie call out from where she was standing on the stage.

"We're gonna rob a vending machine." Cherri said, "C'ya."

Before they could hear Vaggie's reply, they left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aight, okay, so! I've given up on having any sort of posting schedule! So, sorry about the wait, and sorry about the wait for future chapters, I've been struggling with motivation recently.
> 
> There probably won't be another update for a while because Huskerdust week is soon and I'm determined to participate but to do so I have to actually write stuff so I'm gonna focus on that.
> 
> Also, I made [a playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2KvokGw3RUeRhZRlR6gbpx?si=ZGpR0_wfTpC1kGBhz6GfPQ) for this fic. The songs are in order of when they appear as chapter names (yes there's 30 chapters O_O), so maybe y'all can make some guesses about certain things to come!

**Author's Note:**

> If there are any other warnings I should tag this with, please let me know!
> 
> [If you liked this fic, consider following me on Twitter or Tumblr or anywhere else I am](https://linktr.ee/Pheonix_Inside)  
>    
> Thanks for reading!


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